If I release a player in Season 1 and that player has a mutual option in his contract for Season 2... will I be on the hook for the entire Season 2 amount, or only the portion that is actually guaranteed, like I declined his option?

The entire amount. Releasing is almost always a thing to avoid.

I don't believe that's right.

Posted by MikeT23 on 4/25/2016 6:53:00 AM (view original):
I don't believe that's right.

Yeah I don't think I had my coffee yet. I still stand by the comments about releasing, however.

That part is correct. Releasing is a final option in pretty much every case. And, in most cases, it's not even an option.

This is actually one of the only two situations where releasing a player makes sense (the other is if you don't want to go to arb with him).

When you release a player with a mutual option in the following season, you are immediately charged the option decline amount for that following season-- NOT the entire amount of the contract. If you need to free up salary at the end of a season to re-sign an impending free agent, this will work to do that, and all you lose is the right to re-sign the player you released during the re-signing period next season.

Posted by dedelman on 4/25/2016 4:28:00 PM (view original):
This is actually one of the only two situations where releasing a player makes sense (the other is if you don't want to go to arb with him).

When you release a player with a mutual option in the following season, you are immediately charged the option decline amount for that following season-- NOT the entire amount of the contract. If you need to free up salary at the end of a season to re-sign an impending free agent, this will work to do that, and all you lose is the right to re-sign the player you released during the re-signing period next season.

Now THAT is interesting. I actually wanted to extend a guy, but didn't/couldn't because of that very issue. So to confirm, if I releases a Season 2 option guy at the end of Season 1, I immediately get the 75% of his contract off the books and can use that to extend a Season 2 FA?

Yes.

Damn, I actually learned something here.

That is a neat little trick for sure.

Thats exactly why I was asking.